Ann Friedman

Ann Friedman is a columnist for New York magazine's website and for the Columbia Journalism Review. She also makes pie charts for The Hairpin and Los Angeles magazine. Her work has appeared in ELLE, Esquire, Newsweek, The Observer, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. She lives in Los Angeles, but travels so often the best place to find her is online at annfriedman.com.

Recent Articles

Conor Friedersdorf responds to my post on the Stupak Amendment. Mr. Friedersdorf writes, a) The bigger role the federal government takes in funding health care, the more you’re going to see politicians interfering in matters that would otherwise be left to doctors and patients, and the more controversial these battles are going to become among the public. This seems obvious to me, but I never see progressive writers worrying about it. There are bound to be downsides to increased government involvement in health care, yes. I'll grant that. But we already live in a world where government makes a lot of interventions into health care -- the FDA, state insurance commissions, medical licensing boards, etc. Nothing in this bill -- other than the Stupak-Pitts Amendment -- proposes to tell insurance companies which procedures they cannot cover. Progressives aren't the ones advocating for a government intervention between patients and their doctors. The only people who are arguing for that...

I'm sure you've heard by now that the House passed a health-care reform bill last night. I got this lovely e-mail from Barack Obama telling me what a victory this is: This evening, at 11:15 p.m., the House of Representatives voted to pass their health insurance reform bill. Despite countless attempts over nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed comprehensive health reform. This is history. But you and millions of your fellow Organizing for America supporters didn't just witness history tonight -- you helped make it. ... You stood up. You spoke up. And you were heard. Actually, I wasn't heard. Because I think I made pretty damn clear (as did Obama, in several speeches during the campaign) that reproductive health care is essential health care. So what is this Stupak amendment doing attached to the health-reform bill? You know, that amendment that takes away women's access to health care? It reads: The amendment will prohibit federal funds for abortion services...

This year, violence against women -- an issue doggedly championed by feminists but rarely a front-page story -- seemed to make headlines in every section of the newspaper. Sports: A hotel worker accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of raping her. Entertainment: Singer Chris Brown was sentenced to probation for assaulting his girlfriend and fellow hip-hop star, Rihanna. International: After decades on the lam, Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Politics: Recently seated Sen. Al Franken introduced an amendment to withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR if they prevent their employees from speaking out about sexual assault. And the health-reform debate revealed that many insurance companies classify domestic violence as a "pre-existing condition," denying coverage to victims of abuse. The Department of Justice also announced new data on violence against women. Between 1993 and 2008, overall rates...

Great news! After years of conducting immigration raids with the imprimatur of federal authorities, it looks like Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio will be stripped of his ability to do so, as the Department of Homeland Security has revised his 287(g) agreement. The 287(g) provision is touted as a way of allowing local authorities to crack down on criminals who are also illegal immigrants. But in reality, the provision has led to racial profiling and sweeping raids conducted by overreaching officials like Arpaio. Now, rather than using his 287(g) agreement as license for "street-level immigration enforcement," Arpaio will merely be allowed to screen county jail inmates to determine their immigration status. I wrote about the 287(g) provision in TAP 's September issue: But in the 66 local police departments that participate in the 287(g) program, there is evidence that actual crime-fighting is suffering because of the focus on immigration enforcement. Several prominent...

One compelling reason for you, dear reader, to be donating or subscribing to The American Prospect is to support our writing fellows program . There is a reason this program has produced several influential progressive journalists : It's the only entry-level job in progressive journalism in which the core responsibility is writing, not fact-checking or answering phones. In recent years, other news organizations have chipped away at or ended their programs for new journalists. But TAP 's writing fellows not only earn a living wage (with benefits!) but get to hone both their journalistic and analytic skills -- and hopefully move on to long and successful careers in progressive media. About a year and a half ago, I was a devoted reader of a certain pseudonymous blogger. When TAPPED was looking for guest writers, I suggested we bring him on. And after I discovered this blogger was, in fact, a journalism school student who would be graduating soon, I pushed him to apply for the Prospect...